Terrors Taught in Tamaran
by Anima Hunter
Summary: Starfire trusts Robin enough to reveal some secret information about her past; information unknown to any of the other Titans (or anyone else on the whole of planet Earth, for that matter.) Robin has the tough choice of deciding on how to deal with this information. Can he even do anything to help her? Well, he can't change the past, but he can damn well try to change her future.
1. Chapter 1

Terrors taught in Tamaran

"We don't do this enough!" Beast Boy exclaims, stuffing his face full of Doritos whilst watching Cyborg kick ass on the gaming console. Raven raises her view over her book and raises a sceptical eye at Beast Boy.

"Living the time of your real-life in a pointless virtual reality? Fun." Raven says unenthusiastically. Beast Boy stops chomping on his Doritos for a split second to take offence, but quickly recovers from Raven's commentary. It's not like he isn't used to it.

"Is that your way of saying you want me to pay more attention to you? Because you know , we co-" Raven uses her telepathy to grasp the remaining Doritos in the air, and in one quick movement, shoves them into Beast Boy's mouth. All the Titans laugh, whilst Raven lets a slight smirk free from her lips. Beast Boy makes the most of the attention by managing to chew and swallow them all.

"Leave some Doritos for the rest of us." Robin says as he enters the living room. The laughter stops immediately.

"Dude, what are you _wearing_?" Beast Boy asks in a half-horrified tone. The Titans glare at Robin, who is unusually dressed in black jeans and a smart black shirt. The only normal features he wears is the mask over his eyes and the hairstyle he's chosen.

"Uh, I think they're called jeans. I can't really kick in them though; they're not exactly efficient." Robin says, a disapproving grimace forming on his face. Cyborg pauses the console and turns to face Robin with a confused look.

"If you hate them, why're you wearing them?" Cyborg questions, as Robin begins to feel slightly self-conscious in this unfamiliar outfit. He swallows.

"Star picked them out for me." He admits, gritting his teeth. The other Titans all look at one another and smile in understanding.

"Ohhhh, Star chose them, did she?" Beast Boy asks, holding back a laugh.

"So, should we expect a wedding invitation soon, or what? There better be cake!" Cyborg laughs, as him and Beast Boy burst into a fit of laughter. Robin notices that Raven doesn't look up from her book, but it's obvious that she's listening to the situation as she hasn't changed the page in the last few minutes. She's too much of a fast reader to stay on the same two pages for that amount of time.

"Where is Star, anyway? We're all chilling out here, I thought she'd be the first to want to hang out with everyone." Cyborg mentions, and all the Titans pause to think for a moment. Then all eyes slowly glide over in Robin's direction.

"She's NOT my girlfriend! I don't know where she is!" Robin exclaims, his face turning red.

"Maybe you should walk in those new jeans she chose for you and go find her." Cyborg hints, raising his eyebrow suggestively. Robin sighs, knowing that he shouldn't have mentioned the jeans at all. It'll be a while until they let this one go. He turns and exits the room without saying a word, leaving the rest of the Titans to go back to whatever they were doing before.

He needs to find Starfire. _Something isn't right if she doesn't want to be with the rest of us._ Robin thinks to himself. He walks around the Tower, and heads to Starfire's room.

Empty.


	2. Chapter 2 - Terrors in Tamaran

Terrors taught in Tamaran

 _Weird._ Robin quickly looks around Starfire's room, but she definitely isn't there. Robin decides to check the roof. He walks up the stairs to the roof door, and pushes it open. It makes a slow metallic screech as the door swings; the cold evening wind hitting his face. He can see Starfire sitting on the ledge of the roof, her dark shadow stretched across the roof floor. Robin walks over in silence and sits next to her with his legs hanging off the ledge of the roof.

"Uhm, you okay, Star?" Robin asks awkwardly, as the atmosphere of the two of them being alone together starts to set in. He looks over to look at Starfire. Her gaze stares at the view in front of them as the wind forces her hair to fly in all directions. It hits her in the face, the eyes, her lips. She doesn't seem to care. Robin quickly looks away.

"I am…sick of the home." Starfire finally says, and Robin sighs in relief that the silence between them has stopped.

"Oh, you mean you're homesick? You uh…miss Tamaran?" Robin asks, trying to make his voice seem more comforting than factual. It doesn't exactly work, but it's a start.

"No…" Starfire says slowly. _Oh._

"I am sick of the way my home functions compared to Earth. It is not as…friendly." Starfire says, as her eyes transfer into a sadder state. Robin notices this, and realises the situation is more serious than he first assumed.

"Star, what do you mean? Has something happened?" Robin asks, his voice now high with worry. He tries to contain it better, worrying about what the other Titans would think if they walked out and saw this.

"There is so much help on Earth, for all sorts of problems." Starfire explains. Robin listens very, very carefully.

"When my planet was at war, I was utterly on my own." She says in an usual flat tone.

" I was enslaved for such a long time, and nobody was there to help me. I-I saw…things." Starfire shudders as the words leave her lips, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. Robin stays silent and absorbs the information he just witnessed. He had heard about Tamaran being in a War before now, but Starfire had never mentioned about being a slave to the War. This was entirely new information to him.

The thought made Robin sick. How on Earth, or even Tamaran, or even any other planet, did someone as nice and kind as Starfire have such a dark history? And why is this the first Starfire has mentioned it? Robin thinks back to when him and the Titans first met Starfire. She was…well, not evil. But she certainly wasn't focused on doing good for Earth. _What would she be like if we'd never found her?_ Robin wonders to himself. He shudders at the thought. Whatever happened to Starfire during her slavery must've had a dramatic physiological impact. It hurt him that someone so innocent had been dragged through such torture. He gently pulls the hem of his shirt sleeves over his hands, shielding them from the cold - the very shirt _she_ purchased for him out of her own good-will, that she somehow obtained despite all her terrors in Tamaran.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that on your own." Robin says sympathetically. He didn't even need to try and sound gentle this time. He meant it. He _was_ sorry.

"But you're on Earth now. There are people who are trained to help people who have been through…things." Robin suggests, glancing over to see Starfire's reaction. She seems to relax a bit. Emotional advice is not one of Robin's strong points, but for Starfire...it just felt different.

"And you've also got your friends to talk to, like you're talking to me right now." Robin continues, hoping that Starfire will feel a little more comforted. Robin thinks about what it must've been like for a young Starfire to watch the world she grew up in start to collapse, with all her Tamaranian friends and family being impacted as well as herself. He dreads to think of what sort of 'things' a Tamaranian slave must have to do. If they are people controlled and heavily influenced by emotions, then surely the dark emotions should be much, much worse to bare? He sadly looks at Starfire.

 _It's not fair_. Robin thinks to himself. He watches as Starfire gets up, and quickly copies her action.

"I will…think about asking for the help." Starfire says shyly as she forces a small smile and looks at Robin. He tries to smile back, but his mind is too distraught on the thoughts of Tamaran. He needs to find out what happened, and why it was necessary for someone he cares about to go through such a traumatic life.

"However." Starfire adds, as she begins to walk towards the exit door. Robin follows a few steps behind to give her some space.

"The people here were not there. They are not even from Tamaran." Starfire says, sighing slowly.

"Thank you, Robin." Starfire says, stopping in her tracks. Robin walks a few steps forward, so that he and Starfire are standing side by side. The sun had almost set and the darkness has swept over the city landscape. Robin hadn't even noticed. How long have Starfire and him been talking for?

As Robin is lost in thought, Starfire quickly wraps her arms around his neck and holds him there for a few seconds.

Robin freezes.

 _She's…warm_. Robin realises. His heart starts to shake, and his mind becomes empty.

Starfire pulls away before he has a chance to wrap his arms around her.

"Nobody from this planet will _ever_ be able to understand what my people and I experienced in Tamaran. Not even you." Starfire almost speaks as a whisper by the end of the sentence. She leaves through the exit door, leaving Robin standing on his own in the almost pitch-black of the outside. He looks over his shoulder at the city which is illuminated by thousands of little lights or gold and some red. He clenches his fists and walks towards the exit door towards the inside of the Tower.

 _If nobody from Earth can help her-_ Robin thinks to himself with determination -

 _Then I'll find someone from Tamaran that can._


	3. Chapter 3 - Birds of a Feather

"Tamaran, in the Vega Star System. Origin of the Citadel War." The deep voice said down the end of the phone.

Robin – surrounded by research papers and books about the solar system – runs his hand through his hair in frustration.

"I've been here for 3 days, and the only thing you can tell me is the name of the war?" Robin questions in irritation.

"I'm not finished." The voice says in a flat tone. Robin stays silent.

"The Citadel war was caused due to a leakage of secret information about Tamaran's defence system to the enemies called 'The Citadel' by one of the inhabitants of the planet." The voice continued to describe. Robin sits up as he starts to put the puzzle together.

"Information powerful enough to conquer a plant wouldn't be known by just anyone living there." Robin states.

"It must've been leaked from someone important." Robin Concludes.

He allows his thoughts to sink in. _Starfire is the princess of Tamaran…she would never of… surely?_

The voice interrupts Robin's thoughts.

"In exchange for some sort of peace, one of the 3 children of the rulers of the planet was sacrificed to The Citadel. The child sacrificed was _not_ the oldest, however for some reason was in line to become the Queen of Tamaran _before_ the older sibling." The voice continued to explain.

"Eventually though, all 3 of the children were sent to the Warlords of Okaara for 'warrior training' under the command of the head of The Citadel; identity unknown." The voice says, and then pauses. "-And rest is in an alien language the computer can't recognise."

Robin stays silent for a moment and thinks. Starfire's sister, Blackfire, was under arrest the first time they met…and banished from Tamaran the second time...she seemed more likely to have got Tamaran into trouble than Starfire.

Robin tightens his fist. _Blackfire also had no trouble in putting the blame for her crimes on Starfire and nearly getting her intergalactically arrested_.

Robin's mind clicks: _Blackfire wouldn't have any trouble sacrificing her little sister to the Citadel._

"I've got to go and get ready, Bruce has a meeting in an hour." The voice cuts off. No hello or goodbye, as per usual.

Robin reaches for his computer and pulls up a screen with all the Titans names and genetic information. He clicks on Starfire's DNA type and searches it into the system. For longer than Robin realizes, he searches every bit of information he can find on the family genetics. Hours later, 3 names with locations next to them appear in what looks like an alien lingo:

 _Komand'r (Banishment/Location/?)_

 _Koriand'r – (Earth)_

 _Ryand'r (WombWorld)_

 _Children to_

 _Myand'r (Deceased)_

 _Lucand'r (Deceased)_

"Komand'r…I mean Blackfire, was banished from Tamaran after trying to force Starfire to marry that…thing." Robin remembers, gritting his teeth at the memory.

"And Star is on Earth, so she must be known as Koriand'r back in Tamaran." Robin says out loud to himself.

His eyes skip to the last option – unrecognisable to him - that he could try to make contact with in order to find out what truly happened to Starfire, who she is, and what she's been hiding:

Name: _Ryand'r._

Location: _WombWorld_

Robin reaches for his communication device. He clicks a button.

"Yo, you ever coming out your room or am I going to have to dra-!" Cyborg is interrupted.

"How quickly can you get the T-Ship ready?" Robin asks bluntly. Cyborg remains silent for a few long seconds.

"She'll be ready in 10." Cyborg answers. Robin gets up from his desk and speaks again:

"Assemble the team. We're going out."


End file.
